Brotherhood: Showtime TV Show Is Really Over, No Season Four

We’ve suspected the bad news for months but now, it’s been confirmed that the Brotherhood series has indeed been cancelled by Showtime.

Brotherhood revolves around the lives of two brothers in an Irish-American neighborhood in Rhode Island. Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a family man and local politician while his brother Michael (Jason Isaacs) is a professional criminal who’s involved with the Irish mob. Others in the cast of this gritty drama include Kevin Chapman, Annabeth Gish, Fiona C. Erickson, Brian Scannell, Kerry O’Malley, Fionnula Flanagan, Madison Garland, Billy Smith, Frank Ridley, Matt Servitto, Ethan Embry, Brian F. O’Byrne, Tina Benko, and John Fiore.

The series debuted on Showtime on July 9, 2006 and, despite some very positive reviews, Brotherhood didn’t attract a lot of viewers; just 450,000. Showtime nevertheless renewed the show for a second season — albeit one made up of only 10 episodes. They started airing in September of 2007 and the premiere brought in just 370,000 viewers.

Brotherhood won a Peabody Award in 2007 and continued to garner critical attention. Situated behind Dexter, the show attracted its best ratings with 650,000 viewers on November 18, 2007. The pay-for-view cable channel continued to stand behind the show and renewed it for a third season.

Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt said, “Brotherhood is one of our shining hours at Showtime — a drama series that is among the highest-quality shows offered anywhere on television, and we’re proud to keep it firmly in our portfolio.” In November 2008, the season three debut attracted just 305,000 viewers.

Should Brotherhood have been cancelled?

Earlier this year, rumors started to circulate that Brotherhood wouldn’t be returning for a fourth season. Showtime execs wouldn’t say one way or the other and the actors, as well as viewers, were kept in the dark as to the show’s future.

In January, Greenblatt said, “It’s a show that we love, and we’re just trying to figure out what the future might be. We have a finite number of slots for shows, and we’re in that difficult place of trying to make that decision.”

Lost actress Flanagan told EOnline in February, “We’re on hiatus, and we’re waiting to hear what Showtime’s pleasure is about that. It will all have to be balanced with what else Showtime has on its roster for this next year. Usually the shooting season was the summer, so I should imagine that we’ll know soon.”

The show’s future began to look especially grim when Australian actor Clarke was cast in U.S. Attorney, a new drama series for CBS. Though the show was not picked up for Fall, it may end up on the network’s midseason schedule.

Now, the speculation about Brotherhood can finally be put to rest. Showtime and Paramount Home Entertainment have officially announced the DVD release of season three and the title is Brotherhood – The Final Season. Things don’t get any plainer than that. The set will be released on September 22nd and can be purchased now at a pre-release discount. (Please note, the title on Amazon hasn’t been properly updated as of this writing.)

Some have expressed that the third season finale gave closure to the series. Tommy became the speaker of the house and Michael left Providence once again. Do you agree, or are you just left wanting another visit to The Hill?

Bad decision by showtime…brotherhood was easily the best thing on showtime…penn and teller are great…but I’m cancelling showtime. I’m really in disbelief…brotherhood was awesome!

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July 30, 2010 8:02 pm

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Gary

I was a huge fan of The Sopranos but even though I subscribed to Showtime, I never heard of Brotherhood. Everything was Dexter and L Word. I truely believe this show failed because Showtime failed to properly promote it.

Now that I found it on DirecTV 101 I am recording and watching it. My wife and I really enjoy it. Some forward thinking network should pick it up.

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July 28, 2010 11:33 pm

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Chris

One more thing. I was never a fan of showtime until Brotherhood started. Now I’m back to square one.

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July 17, 2010 6:11 pm

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Chris

I think that was the dumbest thing showtime could have done was to cancel Brotherhood. I was a huge fan and I’m very dissapointed with the decision showtime made. I hope you guys will reconsider puting it back on.

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July 17, 2010 6:08 pm

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Sharon

It is on channel 101 (ION) and it’s uncut on Wednsday evening. Shaowtime should have gotten behind the show more. I watched Dexter, Californication and never once saw an advertisement for Brotherhood. They did bring The L Word back, maybe we could get them to bring Brotherhood back. For the record, I thought it was a much better show than the sopranos! ION has another interesting show right after Brotherhood and is also uncut, the name of that is “Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.”

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July 3, 2010 4:22 pm

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Ron

Damn it. Showtime never got behind this show. What a missed opportunity. IT WAS better than the Soprano’s. And then they put some sorry a– shows in it’s place.

Maybe Spike ot TNT/TBS could pick it up?

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June 27, 2010 7:40 pm

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Dee

I am also bummed that the show will not be back. I so looked forward to the new season. Now what….cancel showtime I guess

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May 5, 2010 12:19 am

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lisa

I know its old news now but … I really miss Brotherhood. I wish it would return:)

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April 27, 2010 8:55 pm

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Heather Whiteside

I am very pissed that they cancelled brotherhood. It was okay to have italian gangsters but irish NOOOOOOOOOO. I think Showtime won’t know what they did til everybody starts taking Showtime off their cable!!!!! It was a great show and very realistic. I hope they rethink this and bring it back. It was a great show unlike a lot of these reality shows that have no substance or plots. I think Showtime made a big mistake and I hope they find it in their heart to bring back a show everybody LOVES!!!!!!

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April 9, 2010 3:29 pm

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Sharon Johnson

I didn’t even know this show was on! When I was watching dexter I saw Californication and The L Word advertised, but nothing about Brotherhood. I started watching it earlier this year and still can’t believe those idiots at showtime cancelled it! Now there is nothing worth watching on showtime, I guess I’ll cancel it.

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April 5, 2010 12:25 am

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Mike Ouellette

What a croc ….I used to look forward to watching how michael screwed Tommy . dam bring back brotherhood

my fincees son and i use to talk weekly about each episode , i am of italian descent and thought the brotherhood was as good if not better than the sopranos which i loved. it is very dissapointing to watch shows with very little substance and to have a great series like brotherhood cancelled.

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April 2, 2010 6:58 pm

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Matthew

Really bummed this show was cancelled. This was one of the best shows on all of TV… Looked forward to it each week. Never missed it and told a lot of people about it.
The cast was really good and made you care about them.
Show will be missed

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March 31, 2010 6:25 pm

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Gerry

Brotherhood was the best I’ve seen in years. I’m very disappointed they didn’t get another season. What I found most interesting was that they ( a Brit, an Aussie and a gal from Arizona) got the Providence ‘accent’ just right — I grew up near there.

Hope Michael got his head straightened out before he left town. I’d hate to run into him on the street somewhere.